Implantable device and communication integrated circuit implementable therein

ABSTRACT

An implantable device and a wireless communication integrated circuit (IC) implementable in the implantable device for communicating with a remote unit, wherein the communication IC is capable of self-initializing, namely initial booting without requiring an external general booting program to force the booting process. Moreover, the implantable device and the communication IC provide for checking of the validity and integrity of any program instructions received from the remote unit for the desired operation of the implantable device. The implantable device and the communication IC therein have power-saving capability in order to extend the operation of the implantable device between battery charges. A further embodiment provides a robust communication IC, whereby signal distortion or interference between the analog and digital components collectively residing on the same communication IC is minimized or eliminated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a block diagram of an embodiment of thegeneral components of a communication IC in accordance with a firstembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration a block diagram of an embodiment of thegeneral components of an implantable device having a low-powercommunication IC in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a block diagram of an embodiment of thegeneral components of an implantable device having a communication IC inaccordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a communication controller in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is mademerely for the purpose of describing the general principles of theembodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should bedetermined with reference to the claims.

The embodiments of the present invention provide an implantable deviceand a wireless communication integrated circuit implementable in theimplantable device for communicating with a remote unit, wherein thecommunication integrated circuit (IC) is capable of self-initializing,namely initial booting without requiring an external general bootingprogram to force the booting process. As part of the booting process,the IC can automatically download arbitrary program instructions from aremote unit into a program memory. Moreover, the implantable device andthe communication integrated circuit provide for checking of thevalidity and integrity of any program instructions received from theremote unit for the desired operation of the implantable device. Theimplantable device and the communication IC therein have power-savingcapability in order to extend the operation of the implantable devicebetween battery charges. Furthermore, an embodiment of the presentinvention provides a robust communication IC, whereby the signaldistortion or interference between the analog and digital componentscollectively residing on the same communication IC is minimized oreliminated. The implantable device may be a microelectronic devicecapable of electrically stimulating body tissue such as nerves andmuscles. The microelectronic device may further have the capability tosense body parameters such as electrical signals from nerves/muscles orpressure, temperature and other desired parameters.

Various features and details associated with the manufacture, operationand use of such implantable microelectronic devices may be found in oneor more of the following documents, all of which are incorporated hereinby reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,539 entitled “ImplantableMicrostimulator”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,540, entitled “Structure andMethod of Manufacture of an Implantable Microstimulator”; U.S. Pat. No.5,312,439 entitled “Implantable Device Having an Electrolytic StorageElectrode”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,284, entitled “System of ImplantableDevices for Monitoring and/or Affecting Body Parameters”; U.S. Pat. No.6,185,452, entitled “Battery-Powered Patient Implantable Device”; U.S.Pat. No. 6,208,894, entitled “System of Implantable Devices forMonitoring and/or Affecting Body Parameters”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,721,entitled “System of Implantable Devices for Monitoring and/or AffectingBody Parameters”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,807, entitled “System ofImplantable Devices for Monitoring and/or Affecting Body Parameters”.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of the generalcomponents of the communication IC in accordance with the firstembodiment of the present invention. The communication IC may beimplementable in an electronic device, wherein the electronic device maybe a wired or a wireless device. For example, the electronic device maybe an implantable device. Referring to FIG. 1, broadly, thecommunication IC 100 comprises an RF transceiver 102 coupled andcommunicating with a capture buffer 104 which provides stored digitizedcommunication signals to a digital processing unit 106. In thisembodiment of the present invention, it is contemplated that theabove-mentioned components collectively reside on the same communicationIC 100. The RF transceiver 102 transmits and receives i.e., transceivesanalog communication signals to/from a remote communication unit and itconverts and communicates the received analog communication signals asdigitized signals to the capture buffer 104. The digital processing unit106 comprises various digital components. It is known that because ofphysical limitations of an integrated circuit in terms of size thecomponents populating the integrated circuit are placed in closeproximity to each other, thereby resulting in electrical distortions andcrosstalks in the signals processed by the integrated circuit. Forexample, the analog communication signals received by the RF transceiver102 may be adversely affected when the components, particularly thedigital components, are operating and processing informationconcurrently with the RF transceiver 102.

It is contemplated that in the present embodiment, the digitalprocessing unit 106 stops operating, for example, stops processingdigitized communication signals when the RF transceiver 102 and thecapture buffer 104 are communicating. In this manner, for predeterminedperiods of time when the RF transceiver 102 is receiving analogcommunication signals and digitizing those signals utilizing ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter for communication/transmission to thecapture buffer 104, the digital processing unit 106 and other digitalcomponents are stopped from operating. The control of the operation ofthe digital components is either by virtue of an enable signal haltingthe operation of relevant digital components or by cutting off power tothe relevant digital components utilizing a power distribution unit(described below).

The communication IC 100 further comprises a frame timing unit 108coupled to the capture buffer 104 and the digital processing unit 106wherein the frame timing unit 108 synchronizes the operations of thecapture buffer 104 and the digital processing unit 106. The frame timingunit 108 effectively operates as a clock/counter and starts the capturebuffer 104 operation when its count reaches a predetermined value(corresponding to a frame or series of frames). Then it counts apredetermined number of bits of digitized communication signals receivedfrom the RF transceiver 102 and stored in the capture buffer 104 atwhich time the frame timing unit 108 provides an enable signal to thedigital processing unit 106 in order for the digital processing unit 106to receive the stored digitized communication signals for processing.The digital processing unit 106 sends a signal back to the frame timingunit 108 indicating that it has received all the digitized communicationsignals from the capture buffer 104. Also, the digital processing unit106 sets the predetermined value upon which the capture buffer 104operation will start next time. Moreover, the RF transceiver 102 and thecapture buffer 104 are precisely clocked by the same clocking scheme onthe communication IC 100 such that the transmission of communicationsignals from the RF transceiver 102 and the receipt of the same at thecapture buffer 104 is substantially simultaneously. This approachprevents or reduces the probability of signal degradation or loss in thecommunication between the RF transceiver 102 and the capture buffer 104.

FIG. 2 is an illustration a block diagram of an embodiment of thegeneral components of an implantable device having a low-powercommunication IC in accordance with the second embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 2, broadly, the low-power communication IC200 comprises the RF transceiver 102 coupled and communicating with thecapture buffer 104 which provides stored digitized communication signalsto the digital processing unit 106, wherein the digital processing unit106 is coupled to a power distribution unit 202. In the secondembodiment of the present invention, it is contemplated that the digitalprocessing unit 106 controls the operation of the power distributionunit 202. The power distribution unit 202 provides power to all of theelectronic components 203 on the low-power communication IC 200. Sinceat various times some of the electronic components 203 may not beperforming any operations, then the digital processing unit 106 bycontrolling the power distribution unit 202 selectively removes powerfrom the electronic components 203, thereby reducing power consumptionin the implantable device 201. It should be noted that since theimplantable device 201 is battery-powered, any reduction in powerconsumption provides a longer operating life between recharging cyclesof the implantable device 201.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a block diagram of an embodiment of thegeneral components of an implantable device having a communication IC inaccordance with the third embodiment of the present invention. Referringto FIG. 3, broadly, the communication IC 300 comprises the RFtransceiver 102 coupled and communicating with the capture buffer 104which provides stored digitized communication signals to the digitalprocessing unit 106, wherein the digital processing unit 106 comprises ageneral purpose controller 302 and a communication controller 304. Inthe third embodiment of the present invention, it is contemplated thatthe general purpose controller 302 may be a programmable microprocessorthat can run arbitrary code from a Random Access Memory (RAM) 306. Thegeneral purpose controller 302 is adapted to receive programinstructions from a remote unit for the operation of the implantabledevice 301 and execution of desired tasks. In the general purposecontroller 302, the RAM 306 is loaded with code embodying the programinstructions.

A supervisory unit 308 in the general purpose controller 302 performs areliability check of the program instructions received from the remoteunit. The reliability check may be performed through various techniquessuch as CRC, ARQ, and FEC or any other techniques known to personsskilled in the art. In performing the reliability check, the supervisoryunit 308 checks for the sequence of bits received from a remote unit tomatch the sequence of bits that was actually transmitted by the remoteunit. Furthermore, the general purpose controller 302 is adapted tocheck for the integrity of the program instructions received from theremote unit. By checking the integrity of the program instructions it ismeant that the general purpose controller 302 determines whether thereare any incorrect programming codes in the received program instructionssuch as infinite loops or any other forms of programming errors thatwould hang up a program and possibly result in undesired functions inthe implantable device 301. It should be noted that the reliabilitycheck and the integrity check functions can be implemented througheither hardware or software capabilities in the general purposecontroller 302 utilizing designs and techniques known to those skilledin the art. For example, the hardware capabilities may be dedicatedlogic circuitry. Furthermore, the general purpose controller 302 mayinclude a computer readable medium containing a program having a firstexecutable code wherein the first executable code checks for thereliability of the received program instructions. Furthermore, thecomputer readable medium may contain a program having a secondexecutable code for checking the integrity of the received programinstructions.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, it is furthercontemplated that the communication controller 304 is adapted forindependently initializing and/or enabling the wireless communicationoperation of the implantable device 301. The communication controller304 has the capability of initializing, namely booting up theimplantable device 301 for the start of communication with a remote unitwithout requiring access to an external program. The independentboot/initialization means that the communication controller 304 does notneed instructions from any external entities or from the general purposecontroller 302 in order to boot up from the initialization state tobeing fully operational and in communication with the remote unit. Allnecessary parameters needed to establish initial communication with theremote unit reside on an internal Read Only Memory (ROM) 310 and areautomatically loaded from the internal ROM 310, whereas other parametersand program codes/instructions are later retrieved from the remote unitafter the establishment of initial communication. Finally the programcode/instructions of the general purpose controller 302 are downloadedfrom the remote unit. Moreover, the communication controller 304 acts asa monitor and gateway to the general purpose controller 302 as describedbelow.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the communication controller in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, thecommunication controller 304 comprises a packet filter 402, a protocolpacket processing circuit 404, an initialization control unit 406, atiming control circuit 408, and a power control circuit 410. The packetfilter 402 determines whether the packets of information received are tobe processed by the protocol packet processing unit 404 or to betransmitted to the general purpose controller 302. The timing controlcircuit 408 monitors the timing of the operation of various componentsand generates timing signals that are provided to, for example, theframe timing unit 108 in order to control the capture operation of thedigitized communication signals in the capture buffer 104. The powercontrol circuit 410 communicates with the power distribution unit 202 inorder to provide power to or remove power from the electronic components203 as described above. The initialization control unit 406 controls theprocess of initialization of the communication controller 304. Thisprocess starts at the search mode where there is no existingcommunication with the remote unit. Once communication is establishedbetween the implantable device 301 and the remote unit, thecommunication controller 304 goes into the track mode, thereby enablingthe wireless communication operation of the implantable device 301.

A feature of the third embodiment of the present invention is that thegeneral purpose controller 302 is monitored by the communicationcontroller 304 through the operation of the supervisory unit 308. Thesupervisory unit 308 periodically checks the validity and integrity ofthe general purpose controller 302 code. The supervisory unit 308continually sends the results of these checks to the communicationcontroller 304. When a fault/error is detected, the communicationcontroller 304 immediately disables the general purpose controller 302from executing further instructions, and notifies the remote unit. Thedisable condition is maintained until a new program is successfullydownloaded into the general purpose controller 302 memory, in which casethe disable condition is removed and the general purpose controller 302resumes execution.

The descriptions of the invention, the specific details, and thedrawings mentioned above, are not meant to limit the scope of thepresent invention. The present invention may be embodied in otherspecific forms without departing from its spirit or essentialcharacteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in allrespects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of theinvention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than bythe foregoing description. All changes, which come within the meaningand range of equivalency of the claims, are to be embraced within theirscope.

1. A communication integrated circuit implementable in an electronicdevice, said communication integrated circuit comprising: an RFtransceiver for transceiving analog communication signals; a capturebuffer, communicating with the RF transceiver for predetermined periodsof time, wherein the capture buffer receives digitized communicationsignals from the RF transceiver and stores the digitized communicationsignals therein; a digital processing unit, coupled to the capturebuffer, for processing the digitized communication signals, wherein thedigital processing unit is adapted to stop operating, when said RFtransceiver and said capture buffer are communicating, for thepredetermined periods of time, and wherein said RF transceiver, saidcapture buffer and said digital processing unit collectively reside onsaid communication integrated circuit.
 2. The communication integratedcircuit of claim 1, further comprising a frame timing unit coupled tothe capture buffer and the digital processing unit wherein the frametiming unit synchronizes the operations of the capture buffer and thedigital processing unit.
 3. The communication integrated circuit ofclaim 2, wherein the digital processing unit comprises a communicationcontroller and a general purpose controller.
 4. An implantable devicehaving a wireless communication integrated circuit, comprising: an RFtransceiver for transceiving analog communication signals; a capturebuffer, communicating with the RF transceiver for predetermined periodsof time, wherein the capture buffer receives digitized communicationsignals from the RF transceiver and stores the digitized communicationsignals therein; a digital processing unit, coupled to the capturebuffer, for processing the digitized communication signals, wherein thedigital processing unit stops operating when said RF transceiver andsaid capture buffer are communicating for the predetermined periods oftime; a power distribution unit, controlled by the digital processingunit, for providing power to electronic components on the communicationintegrated circuit, wherein the digital processing unit by controllingthe power distribution unit selectively removes power from theelectronic components when said electronic components are not performingoperations, thereby reducing power consumption in the implantabledevice.
 5. The implantable device of claim 4, wherein the digitalprocessing unit comprises a communication controller and a generalpurpose controller.
 6. The implantable device of claim 5, wherein thecommunication controller is programmed with a predetermined computerprogram for initializing and/or enabling the wireless communicationoperation of the implantable device.
 7. The implantable device of claim6, wherein the general purpose controller is adapted to receive computerprogram instructions from a remote unit for the operation of theimplantable device.